


Sun's Getting Real Low

by FelidArachnid



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Beauty and the Beast Elements, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Implied Relationships, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29319414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FelidArachnid/pseuds/FelidArachnid
Summary: Drabble about how Skin Bolic is simultaneously the most violent and the most fragile of all the Noah. And they all want to protect him for it.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	Sun's Getting Real Low

For all that they liked to mock him, every Family member feared Skin in those moments when he truly lost control. It was rare that any of them had to confront their true Noah memories directly and deep down it disturbed them to see Skin call upon Wrathra so readily. Once Road had drily commented on not knowing where Skin ended and Wrathra began, and everyone had been very quiet for the rest of the night.

The shift typically began devastatingly slowly, an insidious festering of Skin’s already sullen disposition. At a certain point one might notice that Wrathra was tempering quietly within him but it was rare that any of them picked up on this. No, when the tipping point came it invariably came too violently, too quickly for anyone to intervene. The tipping point that sent poor, cornered and frustrated Skin Bolic down into the deepest recesses of himself and wrenched the monster of fury and electricity that was Wrathra to the surface.

A lot of the time it fell to Lulu Bell to quell the beast and bring Skin back. The first time it had been pure instinct – faced with an armoured being of pure lightning she had unthinkingly swollen her own form into a pillar of water; engulfed him and embraced the screaming, howling Skin Bolic until he sank to his knees, gasping for breath. And when the water subsided there was Lulu, both arms tight around his neck and whispering gently into his ear. He smelled of static and burnt hair.

It wasn’t always her; sometimes it was Jasdevi – as himself, not the twins – who could get close enough to lay a palm on that burnished golden armour and embrace him in an icy coffin. And once or twice Tyki had forced his way through Skin’s protective field of electricity, placed both his hands on the other man’s heart and stilled it – stopping the transformation in its tracks.

They all did their part. No one spoke of it but everyone knew Road occasionally drifted into Skin’s room late at night, passing her quick clever fingers over his forehead and stilling those painful, troubled dreams so he could at least sleep and forget.

Devit sometimes mocked Lulu for always saving Skin from himself, joking that she was Sweet-Tooth’s babysitter, and worse besides. But when she turned a bland, expressionless gaze on him and asked him plainly if he would like to do it next time, he quickly shut up. No one wanted to be the one to touch the enraged Skin Bolic.

Especially not after what happened the last time. The Family had gotten their last word on the latest clash with the humans; a massacre of human soldiers, and the assembled group stood at the fringe of a blood-soaked battlefield. Tyki Mikk lit a cigarette and took a deep breath as he watched the hulking frame of Skin Bolic bulldoze his way through the pile of corpses, and he sighed. “I think he’s getting worse.”

Lulu Bell flicked an invisible crumb of rubble from her creased sleeve. “The Earl has been teaching him control.”

“It’s not working.”

“Careful, Tyki-pon,” snickered Road, who was wringing her cashmere cardigan free of blood.

Tyki sniffed and tapped the ash from his cigarette, watching the rapidly cooling flakes tumble to earth. “All I meant to say was - ”

“He’s coming,” interrupted Jasdevi suddenly, getting to his feet. “I think we should leave.”

“And bring him back to the mansion in one of his moods? Absolutely not,” scoffed Road, and she tugged on Jasdevi’s long blonde hair. “Go fetch him.”

Jasdevi waited just long enough to give her a disparaging, incredulous look before his sharp narrow features warped, blurred – and his tall frame collapsed into two wiry teenagers.

Road clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “ _That_ was cowardly.”

“You go do it!” Devit snapped back, hauling Jasdero unceremoniously to his feet. “We did it last time.”

Crossly Road opened her mouth to retort – and abruptly everyone was flung violently into the air as Skin arrived upon them with the force of a charging bullock. Lulu Bell skidded across the rocky ground, instinctively splaying clawed hands to gain purchase on the loose soil. Far to her left the twins screamed, hurtling into – and then through – Tyki as he transparently bounced through several boulders, his phasing ability saving him from much damage. 

They all scrambled to their feet, defensively raising hands and prepared to face the worst – and saw Road – tiny, fragile looking Road – on her feet and walking cautiously towards the hunched trembling beast. Skin’s head was buried in his enormous hands, his muscular shoulders shaking and blood coursing down his exposed skin where the first golden tusks were forcing their way out his broad back.

Silently, carefully, Lulu moved catlike over the ground to Tyki and Jasdevi, all watching with bated breath.

“Skin,” said Road in her bell-like girlish voice. “Big brother.”

He took a deep shuddering breath and all heard the grinding crunch of his bones fighting with the Noah mutation. “Don’t touch me.” The words came out thick and muffled through his hands and they shook with emotion.

Road’s face split into a benign, calming smile, although she knew Skin could not see it. “Brother, we’re done. We can go home.” She took another step. Raised a hand. “Home to pancakes. Rice pudding. Won’t that be nice?”

It all happened very quickly. Road continued to advance slowly; one minute she was standing, tiny, diminutive, silhouetted against the steaming shape of Skin Bolic, and then she dared to lay her hand gently on his forearm. There was a frightening blur of movement. A sickening smack and Road’s tiny body flying through the air. Tyki and Lulu moved with lightning speed; Tyki flinging himself back to catch Road before she hit the ground, and Lulu darting forward to contain Skin Bolic as he completed his monstrous change.

Skin screamed, an ear splitting, ground shaking noise. She rose to meet him, his equal, a gigantic malproportioned bear with claws like blades and a jaw like a gaping trap. The two behemoths grappled, Lulu’s armed paws finding purchase in Skin’s arms and drawing his blood thick and fast. She roared, slammed her teeth into his chest and the force drove Skin backwards, heavily onto the dirt where he writhed and wailed.

Together they struggled, his blood welling hot and metallic in her mouth. Skin frothed and screamed, and then suddenly two hands were laid on his forehead, pressing their thumbs into his skin, and he stilled.

Lulu unlatched her jaws and withdrew to watch Jasdevi materialise a thickened film of ice around Skin’s entire body. He met her eyes and she saw the sheen of sweat over his skin; it cost the twins an ungodly amount of energy to combine again so soon and the clench of his jaw told her that he could only control Skin for a few seconds at most.

“Help…” he choked out through gritted teeth, as Skin twisted and fought against the icy prison.

Water formed, Lulu flowed over him, encircled his hands, his neck, his face. She felt his heat and met it with her own coolness, allowing the liquid touch to soothe and kiss his burning skin. Jasdevi released a strangled gasp and collapsed sideways, his hands falling to his sides, but Skin was already shrinking back down. His job was done.

And once more, Lulu materialised back to herself as Skin receded back to normal, cradling his head against her midriff and whispering quietly as he shook and sobbed.

“Road…”

“Tyki has her. She is fine.”

“Road…little sister…” Lulu cast her gaze down and saw the anguish distorting Skin’s once-handsome face.

“She will heal. We always do.” As she put her arms around him, he buried her face into her and clung to her like a drowning man.

It took both Lulu and Jasdevi combined to bring Skin home. Tyki refused to let anyone else carry Road, who insisted she was fine even while cradling a broken arm.

Injuries from Family always seemed to take longer to heal.

Lulu Bell considered this as she watched Road curled up against Jasdero by the fire. He was sleeping deeply, blonde hair cascading over her lap, and she was using her good hand to unwrap toffee for Skin. He sat stooped in an armchair, a shadow of himself, with a blanket draped over his hunched shoulders. Quietly he took the toffee from Road and the smile he gave her was so tender, so grateful, that Lulu felt the stirrings of emotion deep within her chest. In these rare, strange moments she almost felt she could see the humans they once were.

She heard Tyki before she saw him, his bare feet padding on the thick carpet and then came the acrid tang of tobacco that always seemed to follow him these days, like an unwelcome spectre. Wordlessly he slid onto the sofa at her side. She glanced over at him, and he stared back, before raising a hand and running a thumb over the crust of dried blood that still stained her high, fine cheekbones.

Together they leaned into one another and watched Skin’s head droop, Road tenderly drawing the blanket around him a little tighter and kissing him lightly on the forehead.

“He’s in love with you, you know.”

Lulu remained silent, running her tongue over her upper teeth and finding the taste of blood still there.

Tyki shifted slightly and she felt his gaze on her. “Lulu.”

She stretched languidly, catlike, and laid her head in his lap. “Am I to hope you might be jealous, Tyki?”

He raised one eyebrow. “You deflect.”

“Ugh.” Slightly irritably she rolled onto her side, resting her cheek on his thigh and watching Skin and Jasdero doze by the fire. “He craves relief. Nothing more.”

Above her Tyki was silent, and he moved his hand absentmindedly over her hair in a gentle caress as one might stroke a cat.

Eventually he spoke, in lowered tones so as not to disturb the others. “He is fragile, Lulu. Delicate.”

It seemed a peculiar word to apply to the most massive among them, and yet Lulu Bell knew exactly what he meant. Of all of them, Skin teetered closest to the abyss. And none of them knew how much longer they could keep him there.


End file.
